does not heal by means of herbs and drugs, medicine and surgery, but by the holy spells. In fact one of the greatest of such sacred formulas, the Airyaman Ishya, as we have already seen, bears his name and is used to smite all manner of disease and death.[1] At the recital of the magic formula flee sickness and death, demons and infidels, the two-legged brood of wolfish and serpentine nature, pride and scorn, slander and strife, falsehood and evil eye, courtezan and sorcery.[2] It is employed to rout sorcerers, fairies, and the progeny of evil.[3]
Haoma
The divinity of joint Indo-lranian fame. One of the most distinctive features common to the Indo-lranian peoples before their separation is the Haoma-Soma cult. The Avestan Haoma is identical with Vedic Soma, and both refer to the sacred drink prepared from a special plant and partaken of as a part of the ritual service. Haoma has secured a prominent place in the later Avestan theology and forms an essential part of the Zoroastrian liturgy. Haoma primarily is a plant of this world, from which the drink was quaffed as a religious act, but the idea soon evolves into an angel of the same name presiding over this plant. The two concepts are so closely interwoven that it often becomes difficult to ascertain whether the Haoma occurring in a certain passage is the genius of the plant of that name, or the plant itself. The same difficulty is witnessed with reference to Soma in the Vedas. The anthropomorphic character of both Haoma and Soma is little pronounced. Three chapters of the Yasna and a Yasht mostly composed of excerpts from the Yasna are dedicated to Haoma. More than 120 hymns are devoted to Soma in the Rig Veda.
Ahura Mazda brought for Haoma the star-bespangled spiritual girdle, that is, the Mazdayasnian religion. Girt with this he dwells on the top of the mountains,[4] and from these heights he sacrifices unto Drvaspa, Sraosha, Mithra, and Ashi Vanghuhi.[5]
Haoma pleads the greatness of his cult. He is anxious that his cult, which has been in vogue for centuries, be given a due
